Hi everyone,

Sorry about such a delay. The internet hasn't been letting me post anything.

So today was day two in Berlin. When I was planning my trip I found out that the hotel I was staying out (On the city's western side) was only a short walk from the zoo. I was so excited. This was probably the thing I was looking forward to the most about my stay in Berlin, which may sound very strange. But what most of you probably don't know about me is that I have a slight obsession with zoos. Everytime I would go to either Sydney or Melbourne I would make my mum take me to the zoo even as a teenager. I don't know what it is about that place but I just love going there.

So I woke up at about the usually work time of 3.30-4am. The work body clock is still hanging around, even with the 8 hour time delay. I opened the curtains and it looks like it has rained over night and as the sun starts to slowly rise I realise that the rain clouds have followed me. Let's hope this doesn't continue for the remained of the trip. The sky wasn't a pleasant blue as it was the day before, it was very cloudy and overcast. But that wasn't going to stop me from visiting the zoo!

I went down to Breakfast at around 7ish and the food was just lovely. Scrambled eggs, boiled eggs, a range of breads, bread rolls, all the jams you could think of (there was even a cherry jam) small pastries, a range of hams and cheeses, tomatoes, cucumber, yoghurts, fruit salad, cereals, juices as well as teas and coffee. This felt like the first real breakfast I've had in days!! After having two servings of scrambled eggs on toast (can you believe they only offer tomato sauce EVERYEHERE here in Europe! I'm more of a B-B-Q kind of girl and I'm not game to ask anyone as I'm afraid that I will get strange looks) some pastries and a few glasses of juice, I made my way back upstairs to get ready for my day. I particularly remembered to pack my windbreaker jacket because I knew it was going to rain.

I was a very different day temperature wise to the day before. It was a nice cool, cloudy day but I kind of wish it was sunny and hot but oh well. Like one of my favourite sayings "Beggers can't be choosers". After packing my bag I made my way to the zoo. The weird thing about this hotel is that everytime you leave the hotel you have to hand your room key into reception. In saying that it is a pretty bulky key.

I arrived at the zoo and pay for my ticket. There is also a aquarium attached to the zoo as well but I wasn't to interested in seeing sharks, stingrays and fish swimming around. The starfish and seahorses would have been nice to see but.

Before I set off I tried to look at the map to see where everything was then thought I should have asked at the gate if there was any maps I could buy. Then I figured I will eventually walk down every path and see all the animals. There was pretty much every animal you could think of at this zoo. My favourites would have to be the Elephants, Giraffes, Rhinos, Lions, Tigers, Gorillas, Meerkats and when I came to the Polar Bears. I only got a few good pictures then it started to rain and one of the polar bears got up and started to make his way inside but he would only stood in the doorway. I think he didn't want to get his fur wet. The other two bears one of them I think was the mother of the group because she was cleaning the other one were both laying in the rain. I sat on a bench seat for a while just watching them. It was very nice and relaxing.

I continued on and by the time I came across somewhere to eat the rain was getting heavy and I'm surprised that the parents weren't collecting their kids from the playground so they wouldn't get muddy but then again to have 10 mins of free time to enjoy a coffee they could get as muddy as they wanted. I ended up having a chicken snitty with a salad and a few chips for lunch. I was trying to eating at the slowest possible pace so the rain would pass but I wasn't really having much luck on my side today. So after eating I poked my head around in the souvenirs shop. I only bought a few landscape postcards. there was so many shirts, bags, coffee cups, fridge magnets and key chains that had I <3 Berlin on them. It wasn't really my cup of tea or I'm just a tight ass with my spending money but I'm sure there will be other I <3 t shirts in the other countries I'm going to visit.

I made my way around to the bird section. There were even pink flamingos! I may have silently asked myself if they come in any different colours. That would be very cool! Imagine blue, green, purple and orange flamingos!! I always thought they were such a graceful bird but like any other bird stuck in a caged area with 20 other flamingos they reminded me of the ducks I had when I was a child. Wasn't the most pleasant smell. They also sleep in the strangest position. Standing of course, but they stood on only one leg and wrap their necks around so their beaks and head were all tucked under their wing. That made me laugh trying to imagine myself sleeping like that.

There was also chickens and pigeons. Somehow I think they could use that space for a more interesting bird. I mean do they not have chickens and pigeons over here?? As you can tell I'm not really a bird person. It was my least favourite section of the whole zoo.

The water animals were pretty cool. The seal lion or it could have been a seal I'm not to sure pretty much swam the same route in the water. It was a cool animal but I got bored quite easily. There was two types of penguins. One lot (the type in the Mr Poppy's Pengiuns movie) were the loudest bunch of birds I've ever heard!! The other type, I wasn't to sure if they are king penguins or not but they were pretty cool. They were also kept in a very cold area.

The cats area was one of my favourite area. Go figure the cat lady loves the cat area.... The male lion is such an amazing animal. I could sit there for hours just watching it and the tigers were so big! I couldn't get any good photos because I was indoors. But they too were such amazing creatures!!

The monkey area was so funny. There was this one money that kept rubbing it's butt on the wall. I wasn't sure if he had worms or if it just had an itchy butt. It instantly put a smile on my face!

I definitely learnt my lesson today. It was pack the spare camera battery and a spare SD card just in case....

The sun finally came out just before I was about to leave. Of course, just my luck!! So I decided I would find the hop on and hop off tour which stops at numerous stops around the city. The bus passed the Checkpoint Charlie, all the embassy's. Each different country has a different architectural design and a story behind it. It was very interesting. We went past the Berliner Dom/Fernsehturm, Reichstag, Rotes Rathaus, Brandenburga and the Mauerreste to name a few. It was really quite late in the afternoon and I didn't have enough time to hop off and hop back on again. It's amazing how these buildings have been rebuilt after the wars that had completely flatten the whole country. It's such an amazing place. I definitely needed more time to explore I think. Berlin is a place I really want to come back to to visit.

After the tour did a lop of the city I headed back to the Hotel but stopped off at the supermarket to get some much needed water. Did you know you can buy alcohol straight off the shelf at the supermarket. Which really explains why there's all the homeless drunk passed out people at the front of the shop. It's actually a little frightening. Also the legal limit to drink alcohol over here is 16 Years old. I could believe it! I just imagined myself in year 10 at school able to buy and drink alcohol it's just insane!!!

When I arrived back at the hotel my feet were so sore and I was so tired that I passed out but woke up shortly after. Had a shower, hit the pillows and was out like a light.

Tomorrow I travel by train to Prague. Based on my past experiences using public transport travelling to places I have never travelled to before I get lost quite frequently and end up in the complete opposite direction. So fingers crossed it all goes smoothly :-|

I hope all is well back home. I am definitely missing crossfit now and missing home a lot.

Talk to you all soon.

Bye for now.

Love JB

Xox